describe the software (eg.auto cad)and its system requirements and hardware required to produce cad drawings?
Hardware is Physical and you can touch it ete. Software is Electronic and is transmitted through and you cannot touch it. Both Hardware and Software need Drivers to function. Drivers are Electronic and thus Software.
I've used cadd programs from the beginning of my programming career about 15 years ago. Autocad is the most popular but it is not the only one and over the years there are plenty of free and online programs. Basically, the software records coordinate information relative to each other in a coordinate system such as 2D, 3D, geographic, albers, mercator, etc. depending on the type of drawing you are doing (architecture, mapping, etc.) Files are written, usually in proprietary formats, which are usually convertable between vendor formats should the need arise (often in a painful way, from practical experience). The coordinates may be points in a line, key points in describing an arc or a point on its own. The drawn lines you see on screen are based on user preferences such as colour, thickness, solid, dashed, etc. or something called a 'cell' for points. I would feel safe to say that probably any modern computer (laptop or desktop) is capable of running any cadd software package. The larger the cadd file, the more need there will be for memory and video card power but at that point, you'd more than likely know a lot more about the software not to have to ask. The output (printing) of cadd drawings can be done on any modern printer but often larger plotter-style devices are used to print out the drawing on large-format paper. Modern cadd software also has the ability to render drawings with surfaces and lighting to give the appearance of reality to the drawing which is the same kind of thing computer games do now to render ground, buildings, creatures, etc. In many ways, they're the same except cadd software is not interested in movement very much. Hope that helps.
